On June 15, 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River. Go to article »

On This Date1775 George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army.1836 Arkansas became the 25th state.1844 Charles Goodyear received a patent for a process to strengthen rubber.1849 James Polk, the 11th president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 53.1864 Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed an order establishing a military burial ground, which became Arlington National Cemetery.1902 The 20th Century Limited, an express passenger train between New York and Chicago, began service.1904 More than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River.1923 Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig made his major league debut with the New York Yankees.1969 The variety show "Hee Haw" premiered on CBS.1978 King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.1991 Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.1992 Vice President Dan Quayle erroneously instructed a Trenton, N.J., elementary school student to spell potato as "potatoe" during a spelling bee.1994 Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.1995 During his murder trial, O.J. Simpson struggled to don a pair of gloves that prosecutors said were worn by the killer of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

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====Warmbier is in stable condition at the UC Medical Center, where he was taken immediately after his arrival in Ohio late Tuesday after more than 17 months in North Korean captivity. The reclusive country accused the University of Virginia student of anti-state activities. The elder Warmbier said he did not believe North Korea's explanation that the coma resulted from botulism and a sleeping pill. U.S. doctors said they found no evidence of active botulism, a rare, serious illness caused by contaminated food or a dirty wound. The youth suffered "extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain." Doctors said his injuries are consistent with respiratory arrest cutting off oxygen to the brain, but they are not certain what caused it.

IN REAL TIME, NO CAMERA TRIX, COMPLETE WITH WHITE PHOTO BOMBERS IN BACKGROUND

====U.S. gold medalist runner Sanya Richards-Ross’ confession that she had an abortion one day before she left for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and her even more startling admission that every female athlete she knows has had abortions — “I literally don’t know another female track-and-field athlete who hasn’t had an abortion”.That “every” female athlete has had abortions strains credulity in our age of widespread knowledge of birth control and availability of contraceptives.What Richards-Ross doesn’t tell you in her autobiographical book that she’s hawking, Chasing Grace, is that female athletes deliberately get pregnant (and then abort) in order to boost their athletic performance. The practice is called blood doping.WebMD explains that blood doping is an illicit method of improving athletic performance by artificially boosting the blood’s ability to bring more oxygen to muscles via increasing the amount of hemoglobin — an oxygen-carrying protein — in the bloodstream. The increase in hemoglobin allows higher amounts of oxygen to reach and fuel an athlete’s muscles, thereby improving stamina and performance, particularly in long-distance events such as running and cycling.

====Illinois has compiled $14.6 billion in unpaid bills. It’s running a deficit of $6 billion, and its pension liability has soared to $130 billion. That’s not the worst of it. The state’s nearly two-year failure to pass a budget has sent its bond ratings careening toward junk level, downgraded a staggering eight notches below most other states. With university enrollments plummeting, large-scale social service agencies shuttering and the Chicago Public Schools forced to borrow just to stay open through the end of this school year, Illinois is beginning to devolve into something like a banana republic.

====Camille Paglia: On Trump, Democrats, Transgenderism, and Islamist Terror - In a wide-ranging interview Paglia talks about Donald Trump's successes, how Chuck Schumer emboldened the "resistance," why the left can't condemn Islamist terrorism, and "the cold biological truth that sex changes are impossible."

Well, at least wasn't a slash and burn attack and was coherent- unusual for a liberal.

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GOOD OLE BLAST FROM THE PAST! REMEMBER JODI??

====Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered to give political asylum to former FBI Director James Comey, poking at tensions between Comey and President Trump.“If Comey will be under the threat of political persecution, we are ready to accept him here,” Putin said at a press conference, according to Russian state media outlet TASS.